ID Mishap Forces Georgia Mother To Prove She’s Not A Man

Nakia Grimes (pictured) went through nearly 37 years of life as a woman, never once thinking that one day she would be asked to prove she is a female.

When going through the grueling process of getting her driver’s license renewed, Grimes never noticed that there was an “X” marked in the male gender box on her birth certificate. So, officially, Grimes has been classified as a man and was reportedly informed by a state worker at the Vital Records department that in order to rectify the mistake she would have to subject herself to a pap smear, according to Fox 5 News.

Grimes told Fox 5 News that she had reviewed her birth certificate in the past but never noticed the gender boxes. “You only look at the name, the date, and the year,” Grimes said. “I’venever seen that.”

Reportedly, the Clayton County, Ga., mother of a young boy found out about her birth certificate faux pas when she went to retrieve it at the state Vital Records department. Grimes was taken aback when a state worker told her that she would have to undergo a pap smear, then submit a letter written by her primary care physician to Vital Records to prove her womanhood; this process, she was told, would verify her gender issue–at least on paper.

Grimes said that undergoing a pap smear in order to determine whether she is in fact a woman was a humiliating and degrading request. “She said I needed to go have a PAP exam, have a doctor write a note verifying you’re a woman, and bring it back-– notarized,” Grimes said angrily. Grimes says she left the government agency feeling less than human and very disturbed.

When FOX 5′s Kaitlyn Pratt took Grimes’ concerns to Vital Records Services, the unidentified Vital Records director told Pratt that what took place is not protocol, and she was delving further into the case. She also promised to make things right.

The matter was finally settled when department officials at the records office looked at Grimes’ son’s birth certificate and saw her listed as his mother. The gender box mishap was then corrected, so Grimes can now enjoy her upcoming birthday as an official woman in the eyes of the feds.